Page 30 of The Enemy of My Enemy Is… My Fake Boyfriend?

He smiled, reaching out a hand toward me. "Just a little bit."His finger touched my cheek, perilously close to my lips. "Right there."

Then shocking me, he licked the ice cream from his finger, drawing out the sensual gesture, making me have unwanted thoughts of what exactly Ethan was capable of with that tongue.

Oh, God.

He leaned in close, forcing the breath from my lungs. "So what now, Stratton? Are you finally ready to talk about revenge?"

Ten

Aria

"Revenge?" I gasped.

"Revenge." He said the word quietly, imparting the word so simply, yet I sensed an entire undercurrent of something else behind it.

When Ethan had mentioned teaming up before, he'd never used that exact word, and somehow it'd never occurred to me, despite how angry I currently was about Chase and all his shitty PR against me.

As I mulled the word over in my mind, it began to take root with thoughts of Chase begging me for forgiveness, on his knees groveling and crying that he'd made the biggest mistake of his life by cheating on me.

"How's that percolating?" Ethan said, his sharp eyes seeing right into my soul.

"Um, well..." I rubbed my hands against my thighs, nervous energy thrumming through me as I glanced up at him. "I kind of like it," I whispered.

He laughed loudly at that, and I watched him in awe, before peering around the bar. Was everyone looking at us? Had anyone heard Ethan laugh or any mention of the word revenge? My heart beat wildly as I took in our surroundings, but no one looked our way, not even for a second.

"What are you thinking?" I asked. "Like whatexactlydo you have in mind?"

Ethan's eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening before he finally spoke. "I want to take him down. Annihilate him. Destroy his business. Take his money. Leave him destitute."

"Whoa, wow, um, okay." His words reminded me that I really didn't know this guy at all and maybe all those rumored whispers about him were actually true. "I was thinking more like a glitter bomb in his office or something."

He stared at me, his expression unreadable as a strange silence passed between us. Had I made a huge mistake by calling Ethan Locke? Clearly, I had shit taste in men. My judgment wasn't to be trusted.

Our weird staring contest continued, all the sounds of the bar fading around us. It was like an epic showdown between glitter bombs and complete annihilation... which was weird because wasn't I the one Chase had hurt the most?

A sound came from Ethan's phone, a different sound than all the other notifications he had received and ignored throughout our meal. He quickly picked it up, scanned it, then made a disgusted noise.

"What? What was that?" I asked, not caring in the least that I might be prying into his personal business.

"Another article about Chase and Hannah."

"You have an alert for that?"

"I do," he admitted, his tone hard. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

I'd have to ponder that later. "So what did it say?"

"More of the same."

"So tell me."

By the rigid set of his face, I could tell he didn't want to, so I picked up my phone, determined to find out and read the worst. But the sudden feel of a hand on top of mine stopped me.

I looked up in surprise to see Ethan watching me carefully, his expression softening. "I'll tell you," he said, slowly removing his hand.

Something about his serious tone captured all of my focus, the tiny hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention. "Please..."

His lips compressed together, he inhaled deeply through his nose before speaking. "It's actually a really gross article—all about thepassionthey've discovered.Supposedpassion."

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